The Huntsman: Winter's War

I got what I expected. And even though I wasn't expecting much, it's actually good. The Huntsman: Winter's War doesn't surprise with anything, certainly not with the story and twists, but as a fairy tale fantasy one-shot it's pretty good. Mostly because of the cast. Chris Hemsworth fits the role of the axe-wielding brawler and doesn't push him into any great acting, Charlize Theron enjoys the baddie, Emily Blunt manages to inspire both fear and pity (within the confines of the genre, of course), and Jessica Chastain is sexy even when she's chopping people's arms off. The visual effects are quite good and there is always something happening on screen during the less than two hours, so boredom doesn't set in and that voice that whispers that you are actually watching a completely useless movie is never so loud that you have to take it seriously. Overall, it comes out to be two hours of above average easygoing entertainment with a solid amount of skillfully filmed action and a fine adventure atmosphere. Only the dwarf humor misses the mark a bit. Overall, nothing great, but a pretty good film that stands up more or less without problems next to the first one. (15/05/2017)

I was puzzled when the sequel was announced because it wasn't immediately clear what the continuation would entail. After watching it, it's quite apparent that it was a marketing move. The first installment was captivating, and similar films are trending now, so they churn out a quickie with interesting actors and an uninteresting script, and it will target a wide audience. This is boring. (26/09/2016)

The castle scenes in Winter’s War were copied and pasted from the first instalment and the scenes in the woods looked like they were taken from a cheap TV fairytale. There are no other scenes and as a whole it suffers from a hopelessly contrived script and either half-baked or simply failed direction. The poor quality of Winter’s War is in stark contrast to the A-list cast. (25/04/2016)

The Huntsman: Winter War cleverly embraces the story of Snow White, so the film could have done without the participation of Kristen Stewart, who, after all, was not a suitable choice for "the most beautiful of all". In addition, the film shines with a stellar cast, with Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain joining Charlize Theron. Unfortunately, it's a shame that this time Theron didn't get as much space as in the first part. Anyway, if I were to compare the sequel with the first one, I liked Snow White and the Huntsman better. I found it more visually flamboyant, it didn't include so many over-sweetened romantic lines (the dwarves) and, as I said, it gave more space to the Evil Queen (but the Ice Queen had a lot of potential as well). An average sequel that's nice to watch and listen to (Halsey's "Castle" title song), and while it doesn't disgrace itself on the one hand, it still could have been better. (10/05/2016)

Basically the same fantasy average that wants to be above average, just like last time. Even having Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain and Charlize Theron in one film does not mean that it will be a good film. Not that I was offended by The Huntsman, but somehow I was still waiting for something really big to happen... And then came the end of the story. I was really pleased with the way in which the filmmakers (did not) bring the character of Snow White to the film, because this confirmed that Jára Cimrman and his Hamlet without Hamlet was once again ahead of its time. (05/07/2021)